Introduction: Jacob had now lived with and worked for his uncle Laban for 14 years. He had received his rewards, Leah and Rachel plus a servant girl for each and was now the father of at least 12 children (details for these children are found in Genesis 29:31-30:24). He was ready to leave but Laban talked him into staying a little longer. Eventually Jacob knew it was absolutely time to leave—and that’s when things got interesting.
1 The Realization
Text: Genesis 31:1-3, KJV: 1 And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this glory. 2 And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. 3 And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.
The beginning of this problem actually had its roots a few years before. Laban had asked Jacob to stay a little longer—after Jacob had stayed with Laban for 14 years already! The details are found in Genesis 30:25-43, where Jacob asked Laban to separate the livestock into “yours” and “mine” and Jacob agreed to care for the animals. So far, so good, right?
But a problem arose when Jacob’s flocks became stronger than Laban’s. Moses wrote of some unusual breeding techniques, using peeled rods placed near watering troughs. Frankly, I had never known anything like this to happen in real life but it seemed to work for Jacob.
And as a result, Laban’s attitude towards Jacob began to change. He saw what was happening, and his sons, to use commonly used phrase of these days, “said the quiet part out loud.” These sons of Laban complained that Jacob had basically stolen all that was Laban’s and was enjoying the glory he had received because of this. This is ironic, because Laban had cheated Jacob years before, agreeing to give him Rachel as a wife but slipping Leah instead—and appealing to an invisible or unwritten law where you had to marry off your daughters in birth order!
Aware of this, Jacob must have been wondering what to do—stay and make the best of it? If he did, what might Laban do this time? Or should he leave? If he did, where would he go? These were the only two choices he had, but either one would be difficult to follow, at best.
Then the LORD spoke to Jacob. One wonders how much and how often Jacob had spoken to or with the LORD since he had left home near Hebron 20 years before. According to some sources, shepherds could be away from home for weeks at a time while tending the flocks, finding grass, water, and safe places from predators. This would have been a great time to learn from the LORD, as well as about Him—after all, Grandfather Abraham was still alive for Jacob’s first 15 years and could have told story after story about God’s provision. But only he knew for sure.
The LORD’s message to Jacob had two parts, then. First, He told Jacob “Go back home”, in so many words. Jacob may have been relieved to hear this but his reactions is not stated. Then the LORD reminded him, “I will be with you”—a repeat of the original promise He had made to Jacob at Bethel so many years before (Genesis 28:10-17). Yes, He had been with Jacob, and reinforced that promise that day.
This was just what Jacob needed to hear. Now he was ready to make his decision.
2 The Revelation
Text, Genesis 31:4-16, KJV: 4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, 5 And said unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me. 6 And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. 7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. 8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked. 9 Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. 10 And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled. 11 And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. 14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? 15 Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. 16 For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.
One of the first things Jacob did was to ask his wives, Rachel and Leah (one wonders why they’re placed in that order), to meet him in the field. This probably means Jacob was tending the animals when he heard the LORD’s message. He was wise to not only share the message with them, but also to have them away from the house, so to speak. If they had spoken at home, chances are better than even that someone in Laban’s household would have heard and reported (not mention, probably embellish or misquote) anything Jacob said directly to Laban himself.
Another thing that may not be obvious at first is that Rachel and Leah were united at this time. True, there had been some problems between them as sisters (they weren’t the first nor the last to have problems as sisters!) but each one of them loved Jacob. Together, they went out to meet Jacob while he was with the flock.
Now Jacob opens his heart and soul to both of his wives. He begins his message, probably with a heavy heart—I mean, who really wants to say anything bad about your father-in-law in front of his daughters! What would their reaction be? Jacob knew the LORD would be with him, but maybe he had some doubts about how Rachel and Leah felt.
Jacob started by telling them that Laban’s “countenance (was) not the same. . .as before.” How much or how clearly Rachel and Leah saw this is anybody’s guess. Each was busy with young children (Leah by now had 7 at the time and Joseph, Rachel’s son, was probably just a baby). Add the other four by the two servant girls, Bilhah and Zilpah, and it was a multi-ring circus at Laban’s place! If Laban spent much time with his grandchildren, it’s never reported, but surely he would have known about them.
After this, Jacob lists his struggles, challenges, dealings (there is no easy word for this) with Laban. Jacob flatly told them Laban had deceived him and changed his wages (ten times!) Laban did have the final authority and Jacob had little if any recourse, leverage, or much of anything else at the time.
And Jacob closed his speech by saying “God told me to go back to the land of my kindred.” He may not have known if Leah or Rachel would say anything, but he was finished sharing all that was on his heart.
Perhaps surprisingly, both Rachel and Leah confirmed Jacob’s words! The gist of it is that they were aware of what Laban had been doing—with them, not just with Jacob, and they agreed: “Do whatever God told you to do.” As Jacob had been willing to stay, for love, so they were willing to leave because they loved Jacob.
Jacob had heard the word of the LORD telling him to leave, and now he heard the words of his wives confirming the same thing. Now it was time to prepare to leave, but how could he do this without raising suspicion?
Then, some events, humanly speaking, fell into place and Jacob took advantage of them.
3 The Removal
Text, Genesis 31:17-21, KJV: 17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; 18 And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. 19 And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. 20 And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. 21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount Gilead.
“Then”—after Jacob had received a word from the LORD and confirmation from both Rachel and Leah—he loaded up his family and headed back to the land of Canaan. He set his children and wives on camels (!) and then began to drive the cattle (generic at the time for livestock) from the land where he had been living to the land of his father Isaac. Some may wonder how Jacob found camels for his family, and we’re not told exactly how this happened, but while he was working these last six years for Laban, he acquired camels and other types of livestock besides the sheep and goats (Genesis 30:43).
Now Jacob was ready to leave. Laban was going to be busy with sheep shearing. Did he notice?
Something Laban was going to notice later: the household images were missing. The size of these items is not known but Laban worshiped these idols as well as the LORD. As an aside, how Laban balanced (???) his worship of the LORD plus these images is something I’ll never understand. Compare his affirmation of the LORD’s dealings with Rebekah (Genesis 24) and his complaint in Genesis 31)!
Now came the time to shear the sheep. Laban seems to have had a large flock and it would take a lot of time to shear each sheep, by hand, as it was done in those days. According to one of the online Bible encyclopedias, sheep-shearing took place in the spring when the winter rains were over, the grass was probably plentiful, and the temperatures were probably moderate. As Laban’s flocks were some distance from Jacob’s, Jacob was able to take advantage of this opportunity and leave before anything worse could happen. Some commentators have wondered why Jacob was not noticed as missing but first, there was a good distance between the flocks and it would take, probably, several days to merge the flocks together. Secondly, there was already some bad feelings between Jacob and Laban and his sons—why risk making the problem worse? Third, there is no record Laban or anyone else sent a message to Jacob to bring the sheep to where Laban was staying.
And Jacob left, never to return, taking his family and flocks with him. He and the others might have felt more like Abraham than ever, retracing some if not many of Abraham’s same steps many years before. Abraham didn’t really know where he was heading, only “the land of Canaan”, but Jacob knew exactly where he was planning to go.
But there was one significant problem, and that involved Rachel. She took it upon herself to steal her father’s images (however defined) and wound up hiding them. This may have caused Jacob and maybe others a lot of grief.
Yet Jacob knew nothing of this at the time. He got his family and flocks ready and left. They crossed the “river (Euphrates)” and were heading for Mount Gilead.
So far, so good, right?
They didn’t know that trouble was going to be coming their way. But that’s another message.
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).
